This Hour Of Darkness
by herwhiteknight
Summary: Cosima finds Sarah on the beach after her encounter with Rachel. (Spoilers for 4x10.)


A/N: Ferdinand isn't holding Mrs. S and Kira captive, therefore Sarah manages to call for help. Cosima wasn't picked up by the messenger and is still trying to find the boat with Charlotte.

* * *

Sarah dragged herself along the beach, each step sending a dull throbbing ache pulsing up her wounded leg. When the glass house was hidden from view behind the towering cliff-face, she slumped down against the rocks, grunting as she carefully stretched her leg out in front of her. She grabbed her beanie from her jacket pocket and tried to put as much pressure on it with one hand while fishing for her phone with her other.

"Mum, I.. need h-help," she groaned into the phone, the rocks behind her back taking her weight and digging into her shoulders as she felt a wave of exhaustion hit her, adrenaline fading.

"What's going on, love? Did you find Cosima?" Mrs. S asked quickly.

"N-no, she.. was gone. When I got there," Sarah explained, weariness stilting her words. "But, mum, it's Rachel. She.. attacked me. I need.. your help."

"Where are you?" All business. In her element.

"Beach," Sarah bit out as she tried to put more pressure on her leg. "She stabbed me in the leg."

"Jesus," Mrs. S said, "Just stay put, love. Put pressure on it, find something to tie above the wound to slow the bleeding, alright?"

"Okay mum...," Sarah murmured, her vision blurring around the edges. She just... she just needed sleep. While she waited.

"Don't you _dare_ close your eyes, Sarah," Mrs. S commanded firmly. "We're on our way right now. I'll call you back when we're in the air."

Sarah hung up, her numb fingers fumbling with the 'end call' button a few times before succeeding. She debated for a brief moment about calling someone else, Felix or Cosima or Art, but opted instead just to huddle against the cliff-face to regain some warmth first. Despite Mrs. S's warning, Sarah felt her eyes start to drift shut against her will. Unable to fight the exhaustion, she fell into unconsciousness.

* * *

The sound of something snapping jerked her back into awareness what seemed like minutes later. Sarah cursed at herself, trying not to think about how she could have never woken up and shifted herself into a new position. She groaned as she tried to manoeuvre her injured leg, slapping a hand over her mouth when the snapping sound came again, accompanied this time by voices.

"...the shoreline, but I don't think we're anywhere near the boat from your map."

Sarah jerked up at the familiar timbre, uncaring of the sudden pain that shot through her leg. "Cos?!" she shouted, her throat sore from her earlier pained screams. She twisted around, trying to locate the source of Cosima's voice, "Cos, that you?"

"Shh," Cosima's voice came from behind the curtain of reeds, "Charlotte, did you..?"

"Cosima, over here!" Sarah called again.

Cosima finally appeared on the beachhead, Charlotte in her wake. She didn't immediately spot Sarah, as Sarah had hidden herself slightly behind an outcropping of rocks, in the event that Rachel came looking for her. "Sarah?" she said, glancing around the beach, "Sarah, is that you?"

"Yeah! Yeah, Cos. Here, I'm just here," Sarah said, pushing herself far enough out past the rocks so that Cosima finally saw her sitting there on the beach.

"Sarah, oh my god," Cosima said, shuffling over to her through the sand, her steps seeming as wearied and as sluggish as Sarah felt. She sunk down on her knees next to Sarah, taking in the state of her face, the bloodstain on her leg that Sarah was trying to put pressure on. "What happened to you?"

"Rachel," Sarah hissed, though whether it was from venom or from the extra compression that Cosima applied to her leg, Cosima couldn't tell. "She attacked me. Put a bloody knife in my leg."

"Jesus Sarah," Cosima murmured, looking at the pained expression on Sarah's face. "What are you even doing here, anyway?"

Sarah gave her an incredulous look that carried past the pain. "I came to bloody well get you out of this place, Cos. After you told us about the cure, and you got shut down I... I assumed the worst." She paused, her mouth twisting with emotion, "I'm glad you're here though. It's so good to see that you're safe."

"Yeah, well...," Cosima said, shifting off of her knees and settling against the rocks next to Sarah, "I dunno how safe we are. With Rachel gone crazy and Susan bleeding out... and there's no way off the island either."

"We couldn't find the boat," Charlotte said quietly, limping up to the pair of them and dropping into the space between Cosima's legs, leaning back against her chest as she had before.

"Mrs. S is comin'," Sarah said, scrunching the beanie against the wound as she felt blood start to seep through the material. Cosima caught the movement and moved her hand so that it was resting on top of Sarah's now. "I called her... before I heard you lot stampeding like elephants through the reeds over there."

Cosima laughed, her thumb automatically twitching into a gentle stroking pattern over the back of Sarah's hand. Her laughter was cut short as her lungs spasmed, and red tinged her lips. "Sarah I.. I didn't have time to get the cure."

Sarah was silent. Then, "I know, Cos. I know." She turned her face into Cosima's shoulder and rested her head there, feeling Cosima lean her cheek against Sarah's crown.

"Sarah, I... I might die," she whispered, her breath clouding the air before them. Then she glanced down at Charlotte, whose head was lolling gently against Cosima's chest, eyes closed. "We.. we _all_ might."

Sarah lifted her head slightly to glance out at the pitch dark ocean for a long moment in time. Then she turned back into Cosima, dropping her forehead against her cheek once more. Even from that light resting touch, Sarah could tell just how _cold_ Cosima was. After another long moment, she pressed closer into Cosima's side and whispered back, "Then at least I'm here with you."


End file.
